Former Greek PM G-Pap's 89 Year Old Mother Said To Have $700 Million In Swiss Bank Account

There was a time when Swiss bank secrecy was the passion of every tax-challenged oligarch in the world. Then things changed, Obama made it s badge of honor to rat out anyone you know who has a bank account in Zurich or Geneva, lists of previously ultra-secret account holders started "leaking" and from an asset, Swiss bank accounts promptly became a liability to everyone involved. Such as the matriarch of the legendary Papandreou family, former Pasok Greek PM G-Pap's mother, Margaret, also wife of former PM Andreas, who according to The Telegraph has been revealed as having a €550 million ($700 million) Swiss bank account (she will hardly be happy to learn that Credit Suisse just instituted a negative interest on CHF deposits) in the Geneva branch of HSBC. Obviously lots of hard work by M-Pap went into building up that particular nest egg.

Margaret Papandreou is the second wife of the late Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.

Margaret Papandreou was born Margaret Chant, in the US, in 1923 and grew up in Elmhurst Illinois. She met the future Prime Minister in 1948 at the University of Minnesota where he was a professor and she was a 25-year old journalism student. A relationship developed between the two despite the fact that Papandreou was still married to his first wife. Eventually, Margaret also married someone else. That marriage ended in divorce as did Papandreou's first marriage and the two of them were married to each other in 1951. The marriage produced four children.

In 1963, Margaret Papandreou followed Andreas to Greece. Her husband became involved in politics as an MP in the Centre Union, a political party founded by George Papandreou, his father. Margaret Papandreou was accused early in her husband's political career of being Bulgarian, a race not very popular with the average Greek.

In 1967 a military Junta overthrew the democratic government of Greece and established a dictatorship. Andreas and Margaret Papandreou were exiled first to Sweden, then to Canada where they stayed until the restoration of democracy in 1974. At that time, Andreas Papandreou returned to Greece to form his own political party - PASOK - breaking with his late father's former political allies. In 1981, he was elected Prime Minister and Margaret became the first lady of Greece. In that capacity she sought to reform much of the social and political life of the average Greek woman which brought her praise from some quarters and stinging criticism from others.

Margaret Papandreou's days as the first lady of Greece came to an abrupt halt when her husband met Olympic Airlines stewardess, Dimitra Liani in 1989. The aged PM divorced Margaret to make the young stewardess his third wife.

Sarcasm aside, it is apparent first it was years of looting governing by husband Andreas, followed by years of looting governing by son George, that is among the chief reasons why Greece is now in an economic and monetary singularity, with the unemployment rate rising by 1% per month. But at least once the time to follow through on that self-imposed exile by G-Pap and family, he will not be at a loss how to fund his remaining days. What will also not be lost is the irony that after taking power in 2009, his government announced that the country's financial situation was far more dire than originally thought, largely due to tax evasion by Greek citizens. Such as himself it appears. What is the message here is what we have been saying for years: it is not austerity that is the primary cause of misery for the Greeks, although Greek politicians sure enjoy laying the blame for everything on belt-tightening. It is the outright theft and plunder by those who are supposed to be in charge of fixing Greece that is the reason why now Greece, and soon everyone else, has become such an economic basket case.

Margaret Papandreou, whose son George served as the country's prime minister during the height of the Eurozone crisis, is said to be on the "Lagarde list" of Greek citizens with fortunes hidden in Switzerland.

The list of alleged tax evaders, named after Christine Lagarde, the head International Monetary Fund (IMF), has caused deep resentment as Greece struggles with austerity.

Mrs Papandreou, whose late husband was also a prime minister, denied the allegations reported in two Greek newspapers yesterday.

"Why such lies? Why such attacks? Perhaps because my family never served this country’s interest groups," she said in a statement.

No: they merely served their own selfish interests, at the expense of the general Greek population.

Mr Papandreou, who stood down as prime minister in 2011 but remains a member of parliament, said the stories were "rumours without facts" and were part of a backlash against his anti-corruption battles while in office.

After taking power in 2009, his government announced that the country's financial situation was far more dire than originally thought, largely due to tax evasion by Greek citizens.

Mrs Papandreou's name reportedly surfaced in a report made by police to members of parliament last month.

The "Lagarde list" was provided to Greece by the French government while Mrs Lagarde was still finance minister in Nicolas Sarkozy's government.

Not even the Onion could make up the utterly bizarre tragicomedy that the sinking European continent has become. Sadly, this is merely a blueprint for what is coming everywhere else to the 'developed' (and developing) world.

This is what happens when the banksters own your politicians, via their families, bribes, outright graft, blackmail, etc, (i.e. Deep Capture). You'll never be free nor will you ever be free of being abused, raped, pillaged & bocicafubarsnafu'd.

G-Paps family deserves every penny. They were/are the best friends of the world Zionist Banking Mafia and Israel. So, they were richly rewarded. What are few billion dollars printed for such good friends?

I would not be surprised if the G-Paps family net is well in excess of few billion dollars. Certainly, the bogus Forbes list of billionaires did not mentioned G-Paps or Rothschilds or Rockefellers or Wuborgs, etc, The Forbes list is for “little people”.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if 89 year old Mom doesn't even know she has 700 million....

Her good son took over as executor of her finances years ago, you know, paying her bills and making an occasional investment and such. All her needs being delivered in plain paper boxes at her doorstep for her. What a good son...

Oh shes gota be,if one looks like" Reverend Henry Kane"from Poltergeist,you gota ask your self,What did Papa Androido drink, before he got into close encounter with that thing,ill suspect, she was in the botlle,and he forgot to spit it out!!

Ill suspect at blend of the good oll,CFR mixture,vintage 1600 and forgotten,well,of to Montevideo,allo allo!

thank goodness this wealth could never be obtained by our presidents..bill clinton now net worth over 90 million, obumba buying multi million estate in hawii.. bushs have multiple presidents all with multiple millions.on second thought never mind.

The 1%, in every country, in every economic system. You can buy the stories the politicians and media use to attack the 1%, but somehow they (the 1%) always exist and stay that way. At some point, you'll realize the politicians and media are playing everyone for fools. And the 1% will continue on.

No comment on the thought that this wealthy person has her assets outside of Greece to avoid local political taxation, regulation and corruption? The wealthy are the most upward financially mobile people and move their wealth around to their benefit.

I don't know if the story is true or how she got her wealth. At this point it is mute. The lesson here is whether you follow liberal socialist failed policies (like they are) or come to your senses. Go bankrupt Greece.

Big government, big money. If you want to get rich in a land where the government dominates everything - get real close to the government.

Michelle Obama had a series of pretend jobs on her way to the White House, mostly at a Chicago hospital and in the $300k - $600k range. I bet this old lady's "career" didn't start out too differently. Remember, her money has been compounding for a long while and during a time when we actually had interest rates.

This is what happens to those who, in the end, turn their back on the banking cartel. They are making an example out of Panpandreou to let all the other puppets of this world know what will happen to them if they turn their back on the cartel. Being swiftly removed wasn’t the end of his disgrace. This is the price Panpandreou will have to pay for having mentioned the word “Referendum” while the fascist banksters are pushing their authoritarian agenda over Europe. This being said, it doesn’t change anything about how corrupt the whole thing really is.

"Maggie's days as the first lady of Greece came to an abrupt halt when her husband met Olympic Airlines stewardess, Dimitra Liani in 1989. The aged PM divorced Margaret to make the young stewardess his third wife"

Yeah I remember that broad. The Greek tabloids had pix of her doing "things" to a dog...

I don't know what is wrong with this world. It's getting so bad that a lifetime public servant can't live out her twilight years with the cash she carefully dollar cost averaged into a portfolio of mutual funds and allowed the earnings to compound over the years without getting a hard time.

It would be very interesting to see the history of the deposits to this account.....they probably time with some big new law or deals in Greece as payoffs...I am sure its not a weekly Christmas club deposit....lol

Credit reference agencies will cross-check details of the income people declare on their tax returns against their spending patterns to identify “high” and “medium” risks of both illegal and legal tax avoidance.

People identified to HM Revenue and Customs will then be subject to more detailed investigations. About two million people are expected to be scrutinised under the programme, which may lead to privacy concerns.

HMRC will today unveil the “successful” results of a pilot programme involving about 20,000 people which will now be extended nationally.

Many of those who are expected to be identified are likely to be self-employed workers who have under-declared their income to the authorities.

However, those who have benefited from secret windfalls – such as an inheritance or a bonus – and people with secret offshore accounts could also be highlighted."

The pols will be on the secret list. This info will be used to blackmail them into doing the bidding of their "owners", or else they will be destroyed. This is how and why the system is completely corrupt.

Ok, she took the money. Given that its in a bank acct, the transactions are on record. Meaning, the authorities could seize the funds if the source wasnt justified. If Greek unemployment is so bad, here's a job for someone. There, i created at least 1 job for their economy.

Its, that is their problem to start with and you want to ad to it? Too many working for the government and you are trying to add another.Do it Obama style, just take 99% of it. She will still have plenty of money and that will leave a big juicy pie for the politicians to carve up so they can help themselves...wait....I think they are supposed to help their constituents...umm oh forget the constituents lets carve the pie, I need a retirement fund. Don't be hatin'...what would poor people do with money anyway? Just waste it on frivilous items, like food and utilities. Peasants.

Re "Obama made it s badge of honor to rat out anyone you know who has a bank account in Zurich or Geneva," what crap. The US government started looking for nickels in the street a decade before Obama. I am NO fan of the Obama admin, but get your facts straight: those in power, the people that run our government. will do anything to stay in power. They will turn every human in the USA upside down and shake whatever they can out of our pockets. Blaming it on the democrats makes it sound like you think you know something that you really don't. And if you think the president runs the country, then maybe you should start writing for Human Events instead of ZeroHedge.

For the record, Papendreou was reelected and more popular after the affair with the airline stewardess. I've never understood why voters are so quick to pass off infidelity and downright juvenile behavior (Berlesconi) as irrelevant and separate from their political and professional lives. Guess what... if somebody is a slimeball in their personal lives, it's a good chance that they're a slimeball in the manner in which they govern. People generally don't just have an on/off switch where they choose to act like a jackass in one forum but then decide to be honorable in another. You're either a jackass or not... and this concludes my phd-level psychology dissertaion.

"It is not austerity that is the primary cause of misery for the Greeks, although Greek politicians sure enjoy laying the blame for everything on belt-tightening. It is the outright theft and plunder by those who are supposed to be in charge of fixing Greece that is the reason why now Greece, and soon everyone else, has become such an economic basket case."